1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire having an outer shell and a core disposed within the outer shell, the wire being manufactured via a drawing process and useful in medical applications, for example.
2. Description of the Related Art
Medical grade wires, and medical leads and/or devices that include medical grade wires, are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/524,387 and 11/203,986, published as U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. 2006/0106443 and 2006/0106444, respectively, each assigned to the assignee of the present application, the disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
These wires generally include a metal outer shell and a core disposed within the outer shell. The outer shell and the core are each made of biocompatible metals and, in some embodiments, the core may include a plurality of twisted wire strand elements each including a metallic tube filled with a metal. To manufacture the wire, the wire strand elements are inserted within the outer shell to form a wire construct, followed by drawing the wire construct down to reduce the diameter of the wire construct, wherein the wire strand elements are compacted together within the outer shell such that substantially no voids exist within the outer shell. Optionally, the drawn wire may be coated with an insulation layer and incorporated into a medical device, such as a medical lead, for example.
In this manner, the wire includes an outer shell containing a plurality of wire elements that may be differently constructed for providing different properties to the wire. These types of wires will have the same construction, in cross section, along their entire length.